How to Combat Digital Piracy on a Budget

Thursday, January 21, 2010 from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Eastern Time

Computer networks have radically changed the economics of distribution. With transmission speeds approaching a billion characters per second, networks enable sending information products worldwide, cheaply, and almost instantaneously. As a consequence, it is easier and less expensive both for a rights holder to distribute a work and for individuals, or pirates, to make and distribute unauthorized copies. With a few key strokes, one individual can deliver perfect copies of digitized works to scores of others or upload a copy to websites where thousands can download it or print unlimited paper copies. Just one unauthorized uploading could have devastating effects on the market for the work. A recent report from the World Intellectual Property Organization suggests that unauthorized copying of academic journals and books results in billions of dollars in lost revenue for publishers every year. However, in recent months, some publishers have responded to the dilemma by setting up coordinated services for the detection and repression of pirate activities. In this seminar, speakers from two publishing organizations will explain how their systems work and describe the approaches they have taken. An expert publisher will also present her experiences at the intellectual property coal face.

Learned Publishing Access

In recognition of this 30th year of Learned Publishing, we dedicate our first issue of 2019 to questioning everything. Our goal is to examine the future of publishing through the window of evidence, rather than tradition and status quo. We invited diverse contributions who could bring fresh, honest thinking to some of our most widely held assumptions about scholarly and professional publishing. As special-issue editor, Andrew Plume, explains in his editorial, we aim to “Bring the facts, bust the myths.”

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